While playing for Mater Dei, Jimmy Nolan admitted he always secretly admired the Carson football program from afar.

So even after finishing as a finalist for the Carson head coaching position two years ago, Nolan decided to throw his hat in the ring again this offseason in hopes of landing the job.

On Friday, Carson introduced Nolan as its new football coach to succeed Elijah Asante, who left for a similar position at St. Paul after back-to-back L.A. City Section title game appearances.

“It’s awesome. This is definitely a dream job,” Nolan said. “I grew up playing for Mater Dei, and we felt we were the best team in Orange County, and we always compared ourselves to who we felt was the best team in L.A. County, and that was Carson. So I grew up loving Carson.

“To be the head coach now is kind of amazing.”

Carson principal Wendy Warren said 20 applicants applied for the job. A 10-person committee that included community members helped narrow it to seven finalists, each of whom had interviews on Thursday.

Carson wasted no time in selecting Nolan, a rare off-campus coach. He is also a 12-year veteran of Speed Kills, a training-based company.

“We felt he had a vision for the whole piece, a very clear and specific vision,” Warren said. “We liked his strategies, his ideas to reaching out to the students and developing a sense of family and community.

“We were impressed with his big-picture package.”

Nolan has coached at Cantwell, Laguna Beach and Compton Centennial, posting an overall record of 28-31.

Nolan guided Centennial to an 14-10 record over the past two seasons, helping the Apaches make the playoffs both years.

“The big difference between here and Centennial is that we actually have depth,” Nolan said. “At Centennial, we never had more than 20 guys. I felt we were at a championship level, but all it takes is one injury, one bad grade, one life problem to change everything.”

Nolan also helped raise nearly $200,000 to refurbish the Centennial locker rooms and worked out a deal using San Clemente’s old weights to revamp the weight room.

“I had given my word to the boys at Centennial that I was going to stay,” Nolan said. “But I started telling the kids, and they said to go for it.

“If you coach for the right reasons, there’s never a good time to leave. But rather than just 15 kids at Centennial a year, I felt I could help 100 kids at Carson.” Nolan said he applied for the Carson job two years ago, but finished as the runner-up.

Nolan also was the runner-up at Trabuco Hills and Long Beach Jordan, perhaps due to a three-year layoff from coaching when his wife Taran had their 3-year-old daughter, Paisley, and their 2-year-old, Jimmy-Quick.

Nolan said he plans to meet the team on Monday. He said he plans to choose his offense based on his personnel.

Nolan inherits a schedule that is among the toughest in the nation: Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly, Santa Margarita, Fresno Edison and Corona Centennial.

“I’m very proud to work for an A.D. who schedules like that,” Nolan said. “We can do some big things at Carson.”